Skate boots are well known in the art for use in hockey skates, figure skates or roller skates, for example. Conventionally, laces are used to secure the skate boot to the skater's foot although other securement mechanisms such as Velcro™ or snaps can also be used. Regardless of the securement mechanism employed, it is generally desirable that the skate boot exhibit a certain level of flexibility around the skater's ankle in order to accommodate flexing or extension of the skater's ankle.
While some skate boots are made with flexibility issues in mind, they are usually manufactured in bulk with a pre-defined design. This can present an inconvenience to a potential purchaser if a particular skate or roller blade design is desired (due to its affordability or performance features) because the skate boot may not provide a comfortable fit. Thus, many different skaters with different needs are presented with, at best, a rather limited set of choices with regard to the flexibility characteristics of a given design.
As it is of interest to accommodate the needs of different skaters, much time and effort is invested in developing improvements in skate boots to respond to such needs.
Accordingly, there is therefore an ongoing need in the industry for an improved skate boot structure which overcomes the aforementioned problems and which can accommodate a plurality of different skating styles, modes, types or fashions, as well as the need to provide a skate boot wherein the skater may adjust the flexibility of the skate boot between different flexion modes in the ankle region of the boot.